Sunday, July 29, 2012

Only in Lebanon! (Joe Widick)

Good evening! My trip to Vietnam is almost history and I can't wait to tell you about it! Tonight's entry is again from my former colleague/boss/elder/friend/brother in Christ, Joe Widick of Lebanon, Tennessee. Joe often fills in for me while I am out of the country! Keep me in your prayers!

Tricia, Mary Margaret (my baby sister) and I have been
overwhelmed with all the kindness shown us in the loss of our father. I am still getting 4-5 cards each day from
Maple Hill family who have expressed there concern. It has been a rich blessing and has helped to
reduce the pain. I feel compelled to
share with you one of many events that have been so very special to me during
this time.

It was Tuesday night, the night of visitation for my
father. The line was long, the friends
were many. I looked up and there was one
of my doctors who had recently removed some cancer cells from my nose. We hugged and he expressed his condolences. Then he asked if we could go back in an empty
room. The brief look he had of me while
he was in line brought concern about the possibility of an infection. He told me he was going to go write a
prescription for me and I could get it that night. In a world where it seems that more and more
people care less about others, I had a most unique experience. Someone cared about me. I know that in our history there was a time
when doctors would see you at home.
Never though have I heard of a doctor making a funeral home call. The entire event probably would not happen in
the larger cities. A week ago Monday my
sisters and I made all the needed arrangements for our father’s funeral. Everywhere we went someone knew Tricia and
I. They asked about our father, and how
we were doing. There were expressions of
concern for us. Mary Margaret lives in
Brentwood. She was completely
amazed. She said if we were doing this
in Brentwood, we would simply be another customer.

I have seen the wisdom behind the words of the apostle
Paul when he wrote; “Be kind and compassionate to one another” (Colossians 4:32). Because of your kindness and compassion
towards me, I have been able move forward.
Kindness is described as an active desire to recognize and meet the
needs of others; a sincere desire for the happiness of others. I miss my daddy, but have been kindly reminded
by so many of you that I have a lifetime of memories to hold on to. With each hug and kind word spoken, I felt
the compassion of loving and caring people.
It is hard to imagine what it would be like going through any tragedy
without a church family to lean upon and sense their kindness and
compassion. In I Corinthians 13 the
apostle Paul writes extensively about love.
As he does so, he lets us know that part of what love is, is being
kind. As we go about being kind and
compassionate to one another we draw comfort in doing what God has asked us to
do. What a blessing!!

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Devotional Thoughts

On this site is a series of more than two thousand devotional messages I have written during the past eight years. Many of these thoughts center around daily life as a teacher and coach. The archives are below. You can search topics by typing in a word/phrase in the space next to the orangeB in the left hand corner and clickSEARCH BLOG. The website for the book I wrote (What Then Is This Child Going To Be? Lessons From The Classroom) ishttp://www.hawleybooks.com/. There are also a number of my devotionals in audio form. Go to the hawleybooks link, clickTHE AUTHOR, and there you are!

About Me

I'm a Bible teacher and basketball coach at Westbury Christian School in Houston. The Lord has blessed me to be able to do mission work in Haiti and Honduras. In the summer of 2010, I made my second trip to China, working in a rural orphanage in Hunan Province. The past four summers, I have done mission work in Can Tho, Vietnam.